Furnace.



A. W. EKSTROM.

FURNAGE.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.14, 1911.

'Patented Nov. 19, 1912.

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UNITED sTA'rEs PATENT OFFICE.

.LRVID W. EKSTROM, 0F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

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` specmeauon of Letters Patent. Application ld October 14, 1911. Serial No. '651,728.

Patented Nev. 19, 1912.

To aHwhomitme/ycpnm:

Be it known that l, Anvin W: EKsrnoM, a citizen 4of Sweden, residing at Los lAngeles vin the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have' invented new and useful Improvements in Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements.

reduced may be inserted without previous.

mixing with a reducing agent, which materials 'may then be treated with a reducing agent also vintroduced in the furnace, without the presence of air. A

1t is a further object of the invention to employ a furnace provided withD one or more retorts or muiiles, and when more than 'one are used, they are adapted to successively receive vmaterials to be treated, the said retorts being arranged so that a reducing agent may be introduced into one retort and converted `into gaseous form and then led int-o another. retort for further action upon the charges of material to be reduced, portions of the gas being also employed externally of the retorts for producing combus- .tion 'necessary to heat the same.

nthe'aceompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a longitudinal .vertical sectional view through a furnace embodyin the features of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional-vertical view through the said furnace taken.. upon the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is'an enlarged detail sectional view through a: portion of one of the side walls of the furnace showing the ducts and passages for delivering the gases generated 1n the furnace to the combustion chamber.

While the furnace forming the subject matter of the present invention may be provided with any desired number offretorts, a furnace provided with two retorts propbeing made'pof v'any usual 'or suitable material. rihe mufies maybe located upon transversely horizontal grids 6 and 7 mounted in the furnace 5, in such a manner that suiicient spaces around the said mufles be formed allowing the products of combustion to pass upwardly around and between said inutiles and thence outwardly thIl-ough any suitable outlet flue 8 or channe A space vis left below the lower mulile to form the combustion chamber 9, into which a burner 10 or other heating means is extended through an aperture 11 in the rear wall of the furnace, The ruies are formed open at the front end, the said end proecting through the front wall of the furnace 5 and being adapted to be tightly sealed by doors 12 and 13. When the inutiles are to be closed the doors are put in place and are then tightly sealed. The door 12 of the upper Inutile is provided with a spraying nozzle 11 of any desired type for introducing oil or other fuel materials in sprayed form into said muiile. r1he said door 12 is also provided with an aperture 15 adapted to be closed with a iiap 16. The latter affords a means for introducing rakes or other yimplements into the Inutile for dis# tributing and moving the materials therein; it may also be used as a peep hole for observing the charge.; The lower door 13 is like the upper one provided with an opening 17 and a flap 18 thus affording access to the interior of the lower mufile 4.

The two mufies are connected by a verupper mut@ is Chgd by means of a hoprper 2O mounted upon .the top of the furnace` the top f the furnace andan a erture 22 in lthe wall of themuie.' A conical valve 23 adapted to t'in the outlet of the hopperv and controlled by a hand lever 24 or similar device, may be employed to regulate the admissionof materials to be treated in the furnace.

The chute 19 is located near theinner ends of the inutiles so that materials treated in the upper muiiie may be pushed into the passage in 'said chute and allowed to fall into the lower muie where they are again subjected tothe hot gases levolved from the upper mufiie. At a later period ofthe operation the lower' muiie is discharged through a similar downwardly ilarin chute 25 formed in the front wall of the urnace 5. The lower .end of the said chute 25 ommunicates with a broad iat pipe or chu e 26 e so that the treated mass when finished may -similar device.

be led from the lower mule to a receiving vessel by operating a gate or other shut-off device. The side walls of the furnace are provided withhorizontal gas ducts 28 as clearly shown in Fi s. land 2, the said ducts communicating wit the chute 25 by means of vertical passages 29. The ducts 28 communicate with the small chambers 33 by means of passages 30. From the chambers 33 horizontal slots 31 extend inwardly to the combustion chamber 9. There are preferably a number of said slots extending along each side wall ofthe combustion chamber and the gases generated by treating the materials in the muflles will be conducted by the chute 25, the passages 29 and ducts 28 and passages 30 up to-the chambers 33 and slots 31 where the gases escape into the combustion chamber 9 and become ignited for the purpose 01'?v heating the furnace. Sliding valves 32 are mounted in the small chambers 33 and adapted to be regulated by a hook 34 or Small doors 35 serve for closing said chambers 33. v

The materials after treatment in the second retort,A are discharged through the chute 26 into any suitable mechanism for further treatment in adapting the materials to other uses.

It will be further understood that the furnace may be provided with a larger number of muilles than are shown in the drawing, the said mules beieng preferably connected in series, usually vso that the material treated may be allowed to drop from one mulie into the other as shown in thedrawin without departing in the least from the spiritof the invention.

The materials to be reduced are placed in the hopper 20 `and suitable charges thereof are introduced into the upper mule 3 by 12 so that they may be handled by hoes,

hooks 'or similar implements. 4 This operation being performed the tem erature in the furnace israised by means o the burner 10 to a suicient degree to bring the materials to the temperature of reduction, whereupon the air of the muie systemis expelled by means of any suitable steamjet, not shown. In the form of a spray the oil is then intro` duced into the Inutile from the nozzle 14, the oil being usually forced by pressure to form a finely divided spray. When the. oil thus sprayed. comes in contact?- with the heated charge or the walls of the muiiie, it will immediately be gasied and the gases will tend to reduce the charge and said gases will pass down through the chute 19 to the lower muiiie 7 where they will further reduce a precedingcharge which vhas been delivered from the upper mutlie.

The charge in the upper muie is allowed to remain until the same has reached the proper temperature or as long as experience teaches, whereupon it is caused to drop through the chute 19 to the lower mufile 4, where it is again spread into a suitable layer by means of implements inserted through the door 17. A new charge is simultaneously being introduced into the upper muiile 3 as above described. In the lower muie 4 the charge is allowed to remain until it is as completely reduced as possible, whereupon it is discharged through the outlet chute 25 and pipe 26 to the receiving vessel. During all this time oil is allowed to iow continually for the purpose of generating gas Iand when the flaps 16 and 18 are opened to stir or move the charges of the muiies, the gas within having a slight pressure due to its generation, has a tendency to shoot yout of the apertures 15 and 17 thus preventing the air entirely from entering the mufl fles and coming in contact with the materials therein which usually at the temperature of reduction will readily be oxidized.

It will be noted that in this furnace mechanism oxidation of the charge due to the presence of air is fully guarded against from the time the materials enter the reducing chamber until leaving the same.

The upper muile 3 serves for the complete gasification of the oil and also for heating of the gas formed therein, for the heating of a new charge,- and partially for the reduction of the same. adapted 4for the complete reduction of the charge which was previously treated in the upper muiie. The lower muiiie is arranged rlhe lower muiiie is l 'in the furnace Adescribed. as closely to the l source of /heat as suitable, so that the temrature ofthe same is somewhat higher than that of the upper mule thus facilitating the final reduction, Occasionally the charges are stirred by means of hooks in order to aid the reaction.

The construction of the furnace is such that when the temperature has been raised suliicintly high the oil burner 10 may be gradually shut down, more oil being simultaneously introduced through the nozzle 14 into the upper muiiie 3 producing an `additional quant-ity of gas within the muilles.

.-At a certain point the oil burner 10 may be entirely shut off, the oil sprayed from the nozzle 14 supplying sufiicient amount of gas for both the reduction of the charge and for the maintenance of the proper temperature of the furnace, the combustible gases from the inutiles being burned as they escape from the slots 31 in the' combustion chamber 9.

In place of the oil spray delivered at the nozzle 14 as above described, an oil steam spray or producer gas, or natura-1 gas or pulverized coal or otherreducing agents may be injected into the muiile system for producing a reducing agent and also for the external heating of the muflies.

The air required for the combustion of' the as enters through the aperture 11 which preferably could be connected with a system of channels arranged in a way so that the hot waste gases from'the furnace may be utilized for preheating the air of combustion, thus economizing the procedure.

l 1t will be observed that -a` furnace constructed as above is adapted to carry out a process of ore treatment or lthe treatment of other chemical compounds in a continuous manner, and that it possesses a great advan-` tage in that the materials to be reduced may be placed in the reduction chamber or chambers without being previously mixed with the reducing agent. It affords a means for treating certain materials with a reducing agent in a gaseous form which is productive of. a more thorough andeconomical result.

, During the operation the air can not come lin contact with the very easy ox'idizable charge.

llt-`=will further be seen that the gases evolved by the treatment of the materials in the reduction chamber or chambers are utilized for heating said chamber or chambers, the furnace being a gas producer as well as a reduction apparatus.

What l claim is zl. A reducing furnace provided with a plurality of reducing chambers having connecti-ng passages, a nozzle yextending into the upper" reducing chamber' whereby a liquid reducing agent may be injected into the same, means for heating the reducing chambers, the heat 'producing a gas of said reducing agent, the lower reducing chamber onlyhaving an outlet for gases whereby the reducing agent must passthrough the upper and vt-hen the lower reducing chambers in succession to assist in reducing the materials with an increasing heat.

ZA reducing furnace comprising upper and lower reducing chambers, a connecting lneck extending ,from one to the other and having .a

y downwardly flaring passage formed therein permitting ofthe delivery of materials treated from one reducing chamber to the other, the lowerreducing chamber being also provided with a downwardly -flaring discharge passage, the furnace being formedwith a combustion chamber below the .sai'dreducmg chambers, means for Ain- ]ectlng a reducmg agent into -the upper reducing cliamber, the gases formed in said chamber "bein'g forced to pass downwardly into the lower chamber and thence outwardly through the discharge chute, and means fordirecting the gases into the combustion chamber whereby they will be burned for heating the reducingV chambers.

3. A vfurnace-comprising'upper and lower muiles closed against the inlet of air, a combustion chamber being arranged below said muiies, space being permitted for the productsV of combustion to pass upwardly therefrom around said muiiies, means for introducing a liquid reducing agent into the upper mufle,means for introducing materials to be treated into said upper mufile, a downwardly flaring chute adapted to conduct the materials and the gases from the upper mule into the lower muiile, the lower mule having a' downwardly flaring discharge 7 chute adjacent to the combustion chamber,

thewall of the furnace being provided with dues connected with said chute'whereby the gases from the muffles are directed to the ,combustion chamber, the said furnace wall being provided with valve controlled outlets entering the said combustion chamber whereby the gases may be burned in the combustion chamber for heating the muies, the

structure being such that the materials to be treated and the gasified reducing agent will be increasingly hot toward the discharge chute, producing a more thorough reduction of the materials and delivering the gases for combustion in a very hot condition.

4. A furnace having a vcombustion chamber formed within its walls, inutiles extending into said combustion chamber and having a connecting chute leading from one to the other within said combustion chamber, whereby materials passi-ng through the same will not be cooled, one of said muffles having a discharge chute formed in the walls of the furnace, the said furnace walls also having passages leading from the sides of the chute to the combustionehamber for delv- In witness that I claim the foi-ageing, l'

ering the gases resultingfrom the actin in have hereunto subscribed my name this 9th the mues for burning, and a nozzle in the day of Oct., 1911. f

upper muie adapted to direct a, reducing l ARVID W. EKSTRGM. 5 agent into thesame, the structure beingsuch Witnesses:

. that the reducing agent must pass into the Y EDMD STRASE,

lower muile. before finding an outlet. EARLE R. POLLARD. 

